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28 March 2024

Dhoni on CSK 'chop and change'

Published
By Bindu Rai

With the shadows of Chennai Super Kings’ latest controversy on sporting fraud on the backburner, a visibly composed Mahendra Singh Dhoni confessed he was raring to go with the start of the Indian Premier League Season 7 on Thursday.


The Chennai Super Kings skipper, who interacted with media at the announcement of a new three-year sponsorship deal with IT services and solutions company UST Global, said the challenge facing now was to play good cricket in the coming days.

He said: “There are players who are coming from the Asia Cup in Dhaka, some even New Zealand. The challenge is the ability to adapt and perform quickly.”



Highlighting the strengths of his team members, which includes Suresh Raina, New Zealand skipper Brendan McCullum, South African batsman Francois ‘Faf’ Du Plessis, Dhoni said: “Consistency at playing well and reaching the semi-finals is our goal firstly.



“We can’t say we will win because all it takes is one individual to have a good day. The importance is to reach the semi-finals and you up your game a bit.

“In knockout stages, you play to the best of your potential. That becomes crucial.”

Quizzed whether his current squad is one of the strongest he has seen for CSK across seasons, Dhoni took a diplomatic response, saying:  “What you have to see are your fitness issues and your composition as a side depends on the fitness of the players and their form.
 


“You may have to omit someone who is a big player because with him included, the side doesn’t look balanced as compared to somebody else who isn’t as big a player. You have to see all those things.

“The good thing is we haven’t had so many changed players since season one. We try to retain as many as possible.

“And as a team, we lay down what each one’s rules and responsibilities are. And we try to learn as we are making mistakes; we want to keep that low.”

Talking about his job at deftly handling the strong personalities of other squad members from other international teams, Dhoni admitted it isn’t always easy.

He said: “So far we have been blessed. We have a few players, and most are like-minded people, but yes, it is difficult managing a couple of them.

“But we want to create an environment that provides a good mental condition to perform. And that will only happen if the players in the dressing room are good with each other.”

With the UAE turning up the heat as the mercury rises, Dhoni talked about the weather throwing up more challenges, saying: “Yes, the weather is slightly different when you compare to Mumbai or Chennai or Kolkata.
 


“They are hot and humid. But Delhi is very dry heat and this place is similar to that. It will be a challenge. But sports people crib a lot initially. But you don’t get bothered by it once we start to play.”

When quizzed about the issues facing Chennai Super Kings off the pitch in the spot-fixing scandal, coach Stephen Fleming stated: “We haven’t gotten together as a group, but individually we have been watching events.

“It is out of our hands. I am delighted to be here. But one thing I can say is when the group gets together, it is very easy to do the job at hand. Obviously there are a lot of side issues taking place, but we just come to play cricket.”